Royal has placed an order for ten 180-passenger ships for its celebrity logo and plans to release operations in Europe in 2027. The corporation also reported that famous river cruises can be tracked through sister Silversea’s logo luxury river cruises.
“This is not a hobby for us,” Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty told investors during the company’s Q4 2024 earnings call on Jan. 28. “We are taking this extremely seriously, and we want to make sure we can live up to delivering the best vacation experiences in the world and make sure we’re doing so in a responsible way.”
Liberty said about half of the group’s guests have experienced or intend to take a river cruise, so there’s a great opportunity keep that demand in the corporate family. River cruising has seen double-digit growth over the past decade, he said.
After launching a loyalty program in 2024 that applies a guest’s highest status with one brand to the company’s other two, Liberty said past passengers have become “stickier” within the Royal Caribbean Group.
“We have well over 8 million guests a year, we have a database of 35 million people who are continuing vacationing with us,” he said. “So it’s a great opportunity to use that flywheel to generate high-quality demand.”
Travel advisors concurred. Alex Sharpe, CEO of Signature Travel Network, said there is “tremendous” opportunity in river cruising and that Celebrity fans would place it high on their list when considering a river cruise, opening the line to a higher-yielding passenger.
“With River, you’re talking about fewer visitors and higher-impact visitors, spending more cash on land and digging into local cultures,” Sharpe said.
Royal said it could happen more deliberately after those river cruises to spend higher, with the imaginable release of a luxury river product with Silversea.
“Let’s start with fame. We’ll assume this is where we think there’s a wonderful opportunity,” Liberty said. “And then, of course, we’ll look to see if there are other tactics to expand it for our other brands as it seems. “
Jennifer Kellum, president of Neverland and Travel in Jacksonville, North Carolina, called River Cruiing a “trending” industry, saying the celebrity would have “a door. “
The big thing for Kellum is what the celebrity will do to differentiate itself from other River cruise lines. The logo will want to make ambitious access in the market, he said, how to provide new reports on the classic navigation mode in Europe.
Kellum and Karen Quinn-Panzer of Dream Vacations, who specializes in river cruising, said Celebrity could introduce the river cruise industry to a younger audience.
Quinn-Panzer said Celebrity’s “fun, hip perspective” could attract younger cruisers. Kellum said Celebrity could tap into a trend that river cruising is already seeing.
“The demographics of river cruising are changing, and we’re seeing a younger population onboard,” Kellum said. “I think brand loyalty could work to their benefit with a demographic change.”
A 10-ship order indicates that Celebrity is not just dipping its toes in the river.
“They’re not going to be a new river cruise line on the Danube,” said Richard Turen, owner of the Churchill & Turen agency and a Travel Weekly columnist. “They are going after Europe, and they’re going to have ships on every major European river.”
Mr. Quinn-Panzer also declared that the order of the ships reported the company’s objective to invest in a developing market, noting that there are still many Baby Boomers that seek to travel, the main demographic organization for cruises through the river.
She expects wonderful expectations: “The greatest hospitality of celebrities has no parallel,” said Quinn-Panzer.
Royal said the Celebrity River ships would mimic the design of Celebrity’s Edge-class ships. Liberty said that in terms of brand offering, the Celebrity river vessels will differ from many existing river lines by extending Celebrity policies such as not being all-inclusive and allowing children to sail.
But Henry Dennis, a luxury-led adviser with Frosch based in Charlotte, wondered how fame would be prominent in what many others think are a sun-saturated market. In some ports, you will already have to cross three or 4 ships ending up on the ground.
He also reported that this can be a challenge for a company that specializes in the cruise in the Ocean Big-Nave to rotate such a product.
“Are they going to put the Magic Carpet on the side of their ships?” he said cheekily, referring to the platform on Edge-class ships that moves up and down on the exterior of the vessel.